Hello, I need help with my goldfish. It's a quite big 6 year old telescope that since the last week got like a tumor or an inflamation next to one of its eyes, I separated it from the rest of the fish and put it into a 40 liter tank with antibiotics to avoid any infection changing half of the water of the tank every 3 days; a couple of days ago the inflamation bursted (it seemed like it was full of water) leaving a pice of skin hanging (which I haven't touched yet) and I changed half of the water everyday since that day and put antibiotics in the water in order to keep the enviroment as clear as possible to avoid any other diseases. My goldfish never had such a disease like that but today I noticed that the telescope is floating on the water and it's unable to keep itself in the bottom (as it usually does and like almost always since I got it), I have never seen him floating like that and never had problems related to bladder or anything. The goldfish eats very well as usual, I generally feed the goldfish with tetra fin (dry food) that I manage to sink into the bottom (the goldfish never liked to eat from the top of the tank, it always ate from the bottom).

I'm planning to feed him with boiled peas for a couple of days to see if its condition improves, it has been a very healthy goldfish since I have it (6 years aproximately) until now. Can anyone give me any suggestion to treat my baby?

Try the goldfish section of this forum: (Link is not visible to guests. Please register to view.)
They have a lot of knowledgeable pros there who should be able to help you. Your case seems like a difficult one to treat.

I'm trying to register in the forum, but there are a few verification questions that (according to my common sense) I answered right, but a message of error keeps poping (I have tried several times changing the answers with no success). Could anyone help me by telling me what I am suppose to write to answer those "verification" questions?

Think they went a little overboard with those questions. I was able to register using these answers.

This Dec 2009: Yes

HumanKoivetUnited States

As far your goldfish, i would continue the treatment with the antibiotic to make sure the wound doesn't become infected and see if the fish can heal itself. The medicine and keeping the water clean is probably about all you can do since fancy goldfish are prone to swim bladder problems. Try feeding it peas like you planned and see if it helps any.

Just asking, did you test the water at all in the 40 liter tank? I'm pretty sure you did since you've had your goldfish for six years and I guess you'd be quite familiar to that (:Still, this sudden swim bladder problem (Or general floating) could be caused by high nitrates. So maybe you should try testing the water for this, just in case? And I guess you also know that the water quality in a hospital tank needs to be at its best for the fish to recover fastest, so it could be good to check out some other water parameters while you're at it.

And if this IS swim bladder problem and nothing's wrong with the water quality, you shouldn't feed the fish for two or three days, and then feed him with some "natural" frozen peas that you thaw. Not boil or nuke, because it destroys the nutrients. Pop 'em out of their shells and give them to your little big fish (:

Thank you for your answers, actually I test the water parameters oftenly, that's why I started changing half of the water daily during 3 days sisnce the nitrates were a little high even with the changes but they seem normal now. Will try to stop feeding the fish for a couple of days.

Swim bladder issues can be caused by as simple things as constipation. But it can also come from bad water quality (high nitrates for instance), low temperatures, bacterial infections and possibly loss of weight because of parasites.The symptoms are usually that the fish seems to be flipping to the sides, hanging upside-down, floating with their noses towards the bottom and having troubles with controlling their "altitude" in the water. It can be treated with laxatives, like peeled peas, worms or epsom salts along with a dose of medicine or salt, if the laxatives aren't enough. Sometimes there are fish who will need a surgery called "quartz implant coeleotomy" which is as simple as placing a little quartz stone into the swim bladder.And there are also goldfish who will suffer from this condition their whole life and have to live on a diet of vegetables and live foods.

I just want to add that swim bladder problems are the most common among the short bodied, egg shaped fish and that the most common cause of swim bladder disease is from constipation. That is why it is so important to feed a varied diet when it comes to goldfish. The swimming bladder of the goldfish actually vent throught the intestines and when the passage becomes blocked, the fish either float on the surface or sink when they try to swim. The earlier swim bladder is treated the better the prognosis is because once afflicted with it the fish is always more prone to having it happen again. So changing the diet to a more digestable one (live, frozen, and fresh vegetable foods) is really important.Goldfish that are more likey to get swim bladder can also become afflicted from something as simple as a drastic water temperature change, injury to the swimbladder itself, and gas bubbles forming in the intestines. Usually air bubbles are from a bacterial infection and must be treated with an ORAL antibiotic fish food such as Furanace. Jungle makes a great medicated fish food. To kill a bacterial infection affecting the swim bladder an antibiotic must be ingested by the goldfish to be effective. Just treating the water won't work as well or fast.

Updating the post. My fishy doesn't seem to improve in regard to the floating problems, the frozen peas diet doesn't seem to make him better, although I don't know wheter it has been enough time with the diet (2 days I didn't feed her and 4 more days I gave her peas) and I'm not sure what I should try next or keep trying.

About the inflamation, it seems that the fish is improving and healing by itself, but while I was looking carefully to the fish eyes I noticed that the eye where the inflamation was next to is quite bigger than the other eye (probably about 30-40% bigger) and I'm not sure whether that is normal, the fish is healing or the fish may be getting another inflamation again.

Hm... so did you see about the nitrates in the tank you keep him in? Could be useful (: It might also be good to try asking for some swim bladder medication in the pet shop.

About this eye of his, it might be that he's got something called "popeye" when one or both of the eyes start protruding more than usual because of a bacterial infection behind the eye. This is treated easiest internally, either by feeding the fish some medicated food with antibiotics, or by injecting antibiotics into the fish. But I think the latter method would need some practice Either way, just try keeping a close eye on the fish and see if the eye is getting any more swollen or reddish. If so, it could be good to try finding some of that food I mentioned (: